


Post-assignment affection

by HCN



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Other, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 21:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7480137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HCN/pseuds/HCN
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James returns home after a mission, eager to be with his two partners, Q and Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Post-assignment affection

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy these 2k words of polyamory and relationship fluff.

“You’ve certainly done a number on yourself, 007.”

“Is it really 007 now, Q? I thought we were past that. Unless you want to debrief me, too.”

James limped across the room, finding the nearest seat that wasn’t taken by a cat and making himself comfortable before looking back to Q standing in the doorway. James had only been released from the hospital that morning, but already he’d met with several members of the investigation team as well a member of one of the panels who had questions of his own. All of this was after a debriefing in the hospital that apparently could wait for only until he wasn’t on the highest dose of morphine anymore.

It was the first time he’d been home in a week, and he was only getting there at eight.

“I don’t suppose you could get me a drink, Q,” he asked.

“Eve’s making some tea,” Q said, glancing into the kitchen to where Eve had the kettle on to boil.

“And tea’s all you’re getting,” Eve called as she pulled down three mugs from the cupboard – matching, and gifted to them by Q’s brother after Q finally explained what was going on between him and James and Eve.

Eve finished making the tea and brought it through to the living room, handing Q his cup in the doorway before bringing one to James with a word of warning. “After this it will be to bed with you.”

“You’re no fun,” James said, but accepted the mug as Eve delicately handed it to him. She hovered over James, making sure he could take the cup with his injured arm before finally stepping back.

“If you want to have fun, next time think before you burn yourself,” she said.

“Next time I’ll try not to shield my face from the explosion, but I can think of two people who would be more disappointed if I didn’t have my charming good looks to compliment my charming personality,” James said. “You’re just upset now because I’ll be home for a few weeks but won’t be able to do anything.”

Q snorted from the doorway, while Eve just shook her head and took a seat on the sofa opposite James, lifting her arms as the larger of the two cats made itself at home on her lap. “Or because you’ve landed me with quite a lot of work now that MI6 is in the spotlight again. Your little explosion caused quite the public relations disaster, James.”

“How are your arms?” Q asked, interrupting the flow of conversation.

“Not too bad,” James said. “It’s mostly second degree burns – a bit worse on the right. Should be healed in a few weeks.”

Q nodded. The injuries weren’t too severe, not really – not compared to injuries James had in the past, or compared to how bad it sounded when Q listened back through the recordings from the mission, trying to work out where things went wrong and what he’d need to do in the future to make sure it didn’t happen again. Already James was practically back to his usual self; if he looked after himself, he’d undoubtedly make a full recovery.

“But until then, you need to behave, and be good,” Eve said.

“Yes, yes,” James said. “Doctor’s orders. I’m sure both of you will hold me to it.”

“You should be holding yourself to it,” Q said. “Or at least taking it seriously.”

James looked up at him, and Q found himself almost ashamed at having said that. He hadn’t realised he sounded so harsh.

“I made it back,” James finally said.

“Injured.”

“But alive.”

“He’s worried about you, James,” Eve said, and Q felt the colour rise to his cheeks. He wasn’t sure why – of course he was worried about James: he was his partner. But something about having Eve spell it out like that made him feel ridiculous.

“It’s been a long day,” Q said, almost like an excuse.

“Tired?” James asked.

“I meant for you.” Although it had been a long day for Q, too, now that he thought about it. He was really only just starting to feel it.

James gave him a pointed look, then nodded towards his tea. “You said once I finished this, but I’m not done yet. But after this, will you care to join me?” 

* 

After Eve finished helping James clean the wounds on his arm, she left the bathroom and slipped back into her room, gathering a few things for the night and changing into her pyjamas. When she stepped back into the hall, she saw Q feeding the cats in the kitchen.

“Is he okay?” Q asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “And once again I’m confident that I made the right choice, coming in from the field.”

“Most agents don’t end up in as much danger as him,” Q said, glancing towards the bathroom with a small frown on his face. “It’s only the double-0s that end up like that.”

Eve watched Q for a moment, trying to decipher the frown he was wearing. “You know it’s only natural that you worry about him, right? There’s no shame in admitting that.”

“Of course I know I worry about him,” Q said. “Anyone would, if they’ve seen his record.”

“I know,” she said. “But all the same, it doesn’t speak badly of you for being worried.”

Q nodded. “Right, but Eve–”

Before he could finish that thought, the bathroom door opened and James came back into the hall. He wrapped an arm around Eve, careful not to give too much of a squeeze so as not to hurt himself. He eyed Q over, just as he unwrapped his arm from around Eve.

“Ready, Q?”

“Yeah,” Q said. “Eve?”

She cocked her head and gave a smile. It wasn’t often that they all slept together in the same bed; she and Q usually took turns sleeping with James, and on the nights when James was away Eve and Q tended more towards staying up in the living room, like some extended sleepover that almost reminded her of university - except here it wasn’t weird to be sharing a boyfriend.

“I have to be up early tomorrow,” she said. “But if that’s not a problem…”

“I really don’t think it is,” James said.

“I suppose someone needs to make sure you two boys get some sleep.”

They moved into James’ room. Tonight he didn’t bother to check the security settings, apparently content with Eve and Q asleep next to him, should the worst happen. Whether the worst was something happening to him, or to whichever partner wasn’t with him, Eve couldn’t tell, but they were all there tonight, just in case anything did happen.

Q curled up tight against James on the bed and Eve smiled to herself, once again charmed by how much Q obviously cared about James. Everyone who knew about what she had with the two of them asked about jealousy and how it worked, but it always felt less like having to share _despite_ wanting James to herself, and more like having the security of knowing that someone else loved her partner just as much as she did.

Eve shut off the light and set an alarm on her phone, then climbed into bed, wrapping an arm around James’ stomach and finally letting herself relax.

“Certainly beats the hospital beds,” James said. He sounded a bit tired, which Eve mentally marked as a good thing, and she couldn’t really blame him for that – she was exhausted herself, and could only imagine how much energy recovery would take him.

“Believe me,” Eve murmured. “I don’t know how I’m going to pry myself away to go to work tomorrow.”

“Just stay here,” Q said. She imagined he was nuzzling against James on the other side, like she’d seen him do so many times before. “Someone needs to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t get up to anything he shouldn’t.”

James scoffed like he was offended.

“That’s what you’re for,” Eve shot back to Q. “Lucky enough to work from home, if you want.”

“Only on the days my agents aren’t busy using my equipment to cause some international disaster,” Q said. “And this one wonders why I won’t make him a nuke.”

“I think I should at least give the press something interesting to look at, if they’re all going to turn their attention to MI6.”

“Ah, yes, something interesting – like the Third World War,” Eve said. She kissed the side of James’ neck. “Believe me, we certainly don’t need that. There are people working hard enough without you doing your part to move the Doomsday Clock forward a few minutes.”

Q laughed a little, and Eve settled down on her side of the bed, finding Q’s hand with hers and squeezing it, then smiling to herself when he squeezed back.

“Now both of you go to sleep,” she murmured. “And Q, remember this conversation the next time you give him something to take out on the field.”

“I already told him, no nukes!”

 *

A few hours after falling asleep, the searing pain in James’ arms woke him – time for another round of painkillers, apparently. He pulled himself up, going to move from the be when an arm tightened around his waist and a groan from his right told him not to move. Q curled up closer, drawing his knees up to his chest and burying his face against James. Sometimes he really did remind James of one of his cats. There was no way James could crawl over Eve without waking her, being the light sleeper that she was. Reluctantly, James settled himself back down on the mattress, unwilling to disturb either of his partners.

He lay there for a while, looking between both his partners as he settled on the bed. It was hard to believe that he was all right with this, willing to compromise discomfort if it meant getting a few extra minutes with a sleeping Eve and a curled up Q. Just a year earlier, Eve and Q had still been adjusting to the idea of sharing a partner, and he was just getting used to dating at all. How times changed.

Eventually though, the pain became too much to ignore and James decided he had to move, like it or not. He rolled over, prising Eve’s arm off of himself and stepping out of the bed. For a moment he watched as she muttered something in her sleep before rolling over and facing the edge of the bed, her back towards Q She didn’t seem to be awake, though, so James slipped out of the room gently moving down the hall to the kitchen, where his tablets were.

Burns, he decided as he swallowed them with some water, were the worst. Contact burns would have been easier to deal with, but if he’d been any closer to the explosion he’d probably be dead, if not hurt worse.

James checked that the cats had water, and finally, as he felt the pain in his arms begin to subside, he softly edged back to the bedroom, slipping in through the still open door and moving towards the bed.

Here there used to be a gap for him, the was now Q, and curled up against Eve, who was now awake.

She eyed him over, then motioned towards the empty spot where Q used to be.

“He really is a bloody cat,” James muttered as he crawled under the covers next to Q. Q shifted between them and James smiled to himself before carefully wrapping an arm around Q and finding Eve’s hands.

“You’re okay?” Eve whispered across Q’s head.

“Fine, fine,” James said. “It’s just – you know – the burns.” Eve squeezed his hand lightly.

“This is a bit of a tight fit,” she said.

“Blame Q for that,” James murmured, but kissed the back of Q’s head, then leaned across to kiss Eve before relaxing again.

“Tomorrow,” Eve said, before James stopped her.

“Let’s not think about that just yet, why don’t we?”

“You’re going to be home alone,” Eve said, ignoring his suggestion.

“Or we could talk Q into staying behind and working from bed,” James said.

“Q can’t just stay home to look after you.”

“He would if I asked, or if you did, for that matter.”

For a moment Eve seemed to consider this, but ultimately shook her head. “No, James.”

“Look at him.”

“He’s worried about you,” Eve said. “For that matter, I am too.”

“Then really I’d be doing him a favour, letting him stay here with me,” James said. “He can keep an eye on me, feel like he’s helping the recovery process.”

“He’s not used to this, James,” Eve said. “Having a double-0 boyfriend. Don’t take advantage of him because he’s worried.”

“I’ve been dating him for just as long as I’ve dated you,” James said. “Unless this is your way of asking me to ask you to stay. Do you want me to take advantage of you instead, Eve?”

“I wish you’d stayed in the hospital,” Eve said. “At least then I’d know you were being looked after.”

“But then I’d be the target of every bloody bureaucrat that wanted a piece of my balls, and hell knows they all do,” James said. “I think that’s much more suited to your job, wrangling the suits.”

“I don’t blame them,” Eve said. “You have caused some trouble, James, and not just for yourself.”

“I’m sure you’ll have your piece of my balls soon,” James said, certain he could see Eve roll her eyes through the dark.

“Just wait until your arms are better,” she said.

James leaned over Q’s head and kissed Eve on the mouth, still aware now as he felt Q move against his chest, grunting but not quite awake yet.


End file.
